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Sunday, November 30, 2014

I knew that he would be acquitted, all the indications were saying so but nothing prepared me for how I felt after knowing that the criminal court acquitted ousted president Mubarak and his cronies from ministry of interior's generals from the killing of the protesters . The corruption charges against and his sons were also dropped.

I knew that this was going to happen but I could not take it. Crying all day morning and trying to think rationally later made it hard for me to write anything here in the blog. I cried despite I knew that Mubarak would be acquitted because of Gulf States' support to the current regime. I did not expect that El-Adly and his cronies would be acquitted in that way despite I had hints and tips that they would be acquitted.

Things were developing too fast. In few hours we had the first Mubarak's interview , first Mubarak's selfie with some army officer as well the first ex-police generals' interviews where they wondered who killed the protesters in 25 January revolution.

Later the Judge released to the media the court's reasoning where he did not mention why he acquitted Mubarak and gang. Interestingly despite he praised 25 January revolution on air during the court session calling presidency to compensate the victims' families, he says that the 25 January revolution was a foreign plot.

Of course that foreign plot was supported the army and its commanders then including Egypt's current president now. It was a tough day for me with all those updates coming here and there.

I suddenly remembered the emotional letter of Rihanna Jabbari, the Iranian girl who was executed from couple of months ago for murdering an officer attempted to rape her. I remember that part and suddenly knew why that letter spread like fire among the Pro-Revolutionary youth in Egypt.

" The world did not love us. It did not want my fate. And now I am giving in to it and embracing death. Because in the court of God I will charge the inspectors, I will charge the judge, and the judges of the country’s Supreme Court."

Friday, November 28, 2014

It seems that we are going to have the apocalypse once again on Friday in Egypt at least according the mainstream media.

Tomorrow the Salafist Front "SF" will lead the Islamist youth including the Muslim Brotherhood in an Islamist Youth Uprising in order to restore Egypt's Islamic identity through protests all over the country after Friday prayers holding the Holy Quran.

Yes the SF wants to restore the Islamic identity of Egypt which was lost because of the foreign occupations and the remnants of those occupations aka the military rule of 1952.

I did short interview for work with Hisham Kamal , the spokesperson of the SF before his arrested and he told me that Egyptian people tried all the paths after January 25 revolution and failed ending up with a military coup so it was time to try an Islamic path.

Of course I do not understand how the majority of the people will take that path if they supported the ouster of Islamist Morsi and the designation of the MB as a terrorist organization. I do not know how the SF will achieve that path in the first place. Are we going to have an Iranian scenario ?

The MB joined the protests despite there were rumors today that the banned group would call the day off but the brotherhood proves to be stupid after all.

For God sake the Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyaa , the former true militant group that terrorized people for ages rejected the protests for fear it will increas polarization in the society.

For the first of the time the people in both cities start a semi-civil disobedience against the

The map of the new governorates

government's decision to redraw the governorates' borders in Egypt according to the President's new economic vision. The people are angry because the Red Sea governorate's cities will be divided and join other Upper Egypt governorates.

The government has not finished from redrawing the borders yet and actually the redrawing of the borders is among the reasons why the parliamentary elections law has not been issued yet. Yes there is huge debate about the number of seats and lists for each governorate..etc.

The government believes that the poor Upper Egypt governorates will be rich if they have sea ports on the red sea.

The people rejected the decision and demand the government to study it carefully as well to wait till we have elected local councils to discuss such

Anyhow a non-political non-partisan movement called "No for the Split of the Red sea governorate" was formed by the concerned citizen in the southern governorate. They tried to reach to the media but with no success.

The movement tried all possible ways , speaking with governmental officials with no success and thus it decided to escalate and start a semi-civil disobedience. In the past 3 days students did not go to schools but instead in rallies and protests through out the cities. The employees and workers did not go to their jobs. The shop-owners closed their shops. Only hospitals are operating.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

I should have spoken earlier about that distrubing video, yes the video all Egypt was speaking about.: The IS' special video in Sinai.

From a week ago IS released a 30 minutes video showing its affiliated militant group " Agnad Beit Al-Maqdis" or "ABM" and their operations against the Egyptian army.

In an extremely graphic video showing several operations against armed forces , the ABM is showing off its capabilities whether in media or in combat. Using Go-Pro cameras installed on rifles and high definition quality video , these guys know how to make a short documentary to shake the morale of their enemy.

They included several of their operations against the army and police whether in North Sinai or even in North coast , in West of Egypt last summer. Yes the operations we know about and the operations we do not know about in daylight.

They also included horrifying footage from the deadly attack on an army checkpoint in Sheikh Zowaid last October where over 30 army personnel have been killed.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

This is getting silly but it is expected in that Nazi fascist atmosphere we started it with banning columnists , TV shows , TV hosts as well books so it is natural this craziness reaches to songs.

Singer Hamza Namira's songs are now banned in the Egyptian radio service officially because he opposes the current regime that fights terrorism now.
Pro-25 January revolution Namira's songs were non-Mainstream whether before or after the revolution as they usually discuss social matters.
Of course Namira is accused of being a Muslim Brotherhood member because his records label is the famous Awakening records. Awakening records label is known for its Islamist leaning.
After July 3 ,2013 and what followed it , Namira produced this song "What shall I say" denouncing polarization , hate and violence.

Namira's song "Dream with me" became a true hit after the revolution when famous activist Wael Ghonim revealed that he used to sing it to himself while blindfolded in detention at State security HQ in January 2011 following his arrest before 28 January Day of rage

Thursday, November 13, 2014

And as the bad news shower us every day about people getting killed in Egypt whether in road accidents or terrorist attacks or in prison or in protests or they just commit suicide out of despair and depression , the Philea comet landing is like a fresh air or rather hope.

Okay this will sound strange , after all why the comet landing can be considered something cheerful for some Egyptians realistically speaking when half of the country does not know about this mission in the first place. Well simply because there are 4 Egyptian scientists participating in that world breakthrough.

Among those 4 scientist Dr. Essam Heggy , oh yes Essam Heggy who revealed that fact yesterday after finding out that the media in Egypt has nothing to speak about except the so-called "The Gharbia's Salafist stud" or the latest sex scandal in Egypt. "You can know about that in other websites".

We all remember how Heggy was being called loser and retard by the Pro-Military media in Egypt for daring to criticize the amazing Kofta device. Well Heggy is having a big laugh now.Below the photos of Heggy,El-Maarry and Marouf.

Of course we can not ignore the Egyptian origin of both words "Philea" or "Rosetta"

By the way the mainstream media does not care that much about the Philea landing and they did not know that there are Egyptians involved in this historical event including the man slammed from several months ago for saying the truth about Kofta device.

Anyhow there may be troubles facing Philea but it reached the comet.Here are photos of the original Philea in Egypt

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

New York based Committee to Protect Journalists "CPJ" released that short documentary about Press in Egypt now. It is called "Under threat : Egyptian press in peril". I highly recommend watching it.

The documentary's title is perfect to describe the situation of press and media in general now in Egypt. They are in peril.

There is something being cooked when it comes to media right now. First we got the meeting of the major newspapers editors in Chief from couple of weeks ago. They announced that they would support the state. Second we got the meeting of the private newspapers' editors in chief who declared that they would form some sort of a chamber. I do not understand the role of that chamber to be honest. I feel that there is something being cooked and its smell is not good.

Of course some of you have known that Le Monde Diplomatique editor Alain Gresh was detained earlier today in Cairo for couple of hours along Egyptian journalists Sara Khorshid and Reem Khorshid because they were speaking about political affairs in Le Poire Cafe in Garden City near the British Embassy. They were arrested after being reported by some lady sitting in the cafe who heard them talk about politics in Egypt and went mad on how they dare to speak about politics. It is more than alarming. Again hours laters Greshe and the Khorshid sisters were released. The ministry of interior apologizd to the Le Monde Diplomatique editor but damage has been done.

What happened today to Gresh and the Khorshids is a result of the Pro-regime's incitement media. It is just sad.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Earlier today the ministry of interior distributed a press release on Egyptian newspapers and websites like Al-Masry Al-Youm , Dot Misr , Sada El-Balad and Masrawy. According to that press release a Cairo University student was arrested outside it by security forces carrying a bag and the following seizures were officially documented : A notebook includes paragraphs about the Islamic Caliphate , two mobile phones without batteries, flash drives , hard drives , memory cards and "1984" novelwhich criticizes the military regimes.

Yes this was what mentioned in the official seizures report and this is how the novel was described along the notebook with paragraphs about the Islamic Caliphate allegedly praising it.

It is worth to mention that the official seizures report issued by the ministry of interior early Sunday did not include any camera and it stated the two mobiles reportedly found with the student got no batteries.

Officially I have not seen a statement about the reason behind the arrest aside from that phone call my dear friend Mai made to the Giza security directorate. Also I wish there is attention to the student himself like the attention to Orwell's masterpiece.

The Pro-Police/Pro-Military attacked Al-Masry Al-Youm accusing it of fabricating the news despite other websites including cheap Pro-Police websites like Sada El-Balad copied the ministry of interior's statement making no change what so ever to it. They also claimed that the police in Egypt would not arrest people for trivial stuff such as carrying books like 1984.

Well I hate to remind them that the police in Egypt actually arrest people for trivial stuff like pins, rulers, posters , t-shirts and even teddy bears. The examples are many yet here are some of them to refresh the memory of my fellow Egyptians :

Mahmoud Mohamed, a student who has been in detention for nearly 11 months because he was wearing on the last anniversary of the 25 January a t-shirt that says "Against torture"

Anyhow I really thank the ministry of interior because now " 1984 novel"is most searched words in Egypt today according to the Google trends.

People are sharing it online whether the English version or the Arabic version or the film.

Needless to see I look to Egypt now as mix of Animal Farm and 1984. Of course now it is leaning towards 1984 more and more especially when it comes to the media. Facts are being changed in front of us , facts we have all lived.

Anyhow this is a regime that arrests people for wearing pins , t-shirts and carrying rulers with signs so I won't be surprised that people get arrested later for carrying books like 1984 or Animal farm.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

In very short but straight to the point words, Bassem Youssef spoke in the Oslo Freedom Forum 2014. You must see it.

When I think about I believe that Youssef's show was not stopped only because it spoke about the emporer and his clothes , it was stopped also because what Bassem referred in his short word in Oslo as a sorry excuse for media in Egypt was exposed to the world. Bassem exposed the propaganda of the regime in Egypt and that was enough reason to shut him down in all possible ways.

This year the Oslo Freedom Forum had really interesting set of speakers from the Middle East like Bassem Youssef and Iyad El-Baghdadi.

God knows how much Bassem Youssef and his team are missed these days.

Bassem Youssef spoke last month in UC Berkeley and he said that he was not Nelson Mandela.He also added he suspended the show because he cared for his family's safety. Youssef is not Mandela but he is one of those kids that laughed at how the emperor was naked when all the town was afraid and God knows the future insh Allah is for those kids.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

The day started with a horrifying road accident in Behaira governorate where not less than 16 high school students were killed. The photos from the scene were horrifying.It is more than frustrating when you know that this is the second accident where students get killed on the road. A simliar accident took place in Sohage from 2 days ago.

It is not a big secret Egypt has the highest rate of road accidents in North Africa and it is not a secret either that the number of people who get killed annually because of car accidents are more than the number of Egypt's official recorded martyrs in all of its wars. We all know that and the government in Egypt knows that too.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

"IF they don't let us dream, we are not going to let them sleep" said Iyad El-Baghdadi at Oslo Freedom Forum last week in his amazing speech summarizing what happened to the "Arab Spring" in the past four years from ups and downs.

You must watch and hear his speech because El-Baghdadi speaks on behalf a lot of us in the Arab spring countries.